


Metal

by that_is_shocking



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Mob, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood and Gore, Byun Baekhyun/Everyone - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Escort Service, Gangsters, Guns, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Lip Rings, M/M, Piercings, Prostitution, That One Lip Ring From Monster, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-07-27 11:57:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_is_shocking/pseuds/that_is_shocking
Summary: These are a series of oneshots of Baekhyun and the members of EXO, based on that freaking lip ring he wore in Monster that haunted my dreams for months after that. Every Chapter will have that lip ring guys, EVERY CHAPTER. (It was a great look, I'm totally okay) since I like pain I'm going almost all out on the Hurt before the comfort, so be warned guys.Tags will update with every chapter posting.Chapter 2.) Listen (Sehun/Baekhyun)Sehun is a high class escort, ie. rich man's prostitute. He's had to work under the same company since he was twelve, but at least he has Baekhyun. But his world drowns on a Tuesday, and everything is not okay.Chapter 3.) Wait (Yixing/Baekhyun)Zhang Yixing is a hitman, and he is very good at his job. One day though, a client keeps him waiting for a long while, and during that while, he meets the gang's "pet". Yixing is thus distracted, and that may not be a good thing





	1. Deals

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1.)  
> Mob Boss Chanyeol goes into a meeting with a rival expecting bloodshed, and maybe a deal, definitely not a pretty little "pet" led around on a leash attached to a lip ring.  
> Pairing Chanyeol/Baekhyun  
> !!Warnings!!  
> -Non Con (Implied and referenced)  
> -Abuse/Humiliation  
> -Minor Character Death  
> -a little gore
> 
> Word Count:  
> 3765

Chanyeol followed the short man through a maze of hallways. It was obviously meant to confuse him and get him turned around, but he had been doing this for far too many years to get lost that easily. 

He kept his patience, his right hand and eyes and ears followed him diligently, he was here to do a job after all. Kyungsoo huffed in annoyance, as he and Chanyeol recognized a corridor they had already passed through. 

“Hey. We’re here to do business, not be jerked around like this. Get on with it.” Chanyeol growled, and the little man in front of him paused. 

They waited for a second longer, before being led downstairs, into a smokey, blue and red neon lit lounge. 

His rival sat cockily in the center, sipping an ugly little drink, and Chanyeol spared a look around the room. 

A few pool tables, and a poker table decorated it, fake plants, and smoke hung thick. Chanyeol let his lip curl at the permeating scent. Behind him, he was sure that his men did the same.

A little bar was situated in the corner, and a nervous looking old man sat behind it. 

“I like what you’ve done with the place Jinho.” Chanyeol commented after a moment, sitting across from the man, and his fruity umbrella. “Very James Bond villain lair esque. It’s nice.”

“Oh, that’s a lie if I’ve heard one,” Jinho chuckled, his voice was higher than you would expect, and Chanyeol hoped it was nerves. “I’ve seen the club in your territory, Park. You and I, let’s say, have very different style choices.” 

Behind him, his right hand Kyungsoo snorted. 

Chanyeol smiled full force, and Jinho bristled at the sight of teeth. “I do prefer a more, well, Modern approach. And your fake plants  _ are  _ a little tacky.” 

Jinho huffed, and crossed his arms.

“I do hope you’ve come prepared.” Jinho drawled. Sehun passed a briefcase to Chanyeol. It was heavy, and clunky, and holding it, Chanyeol felt a little hesitance. 

“I hope that’s my one million.” Jinho reached for it. 

Chanyeol set his hand possessively on the top of it and smiled again at Jinho. The man across from him paused, and frowned.

“I was hoping we could have a discussion before we got to business. It’s been so long.”

“So long!” Sehun mimicked Jinho after Jinho finished, and Chanyeol heard Kyungsoo swat him. 

“Fine.” Chanyeol relented and Jinho waved to the little old bartender. 

“Uncle! Drinks please!” He turned back to the trio in front of him. “What would you like?” 

“Water.” Chanyeol said dismissively. “Anything for you boys?” 

With no response from either, Chanyeol nodded at the old man. Jinho ordered some obscene sounding fruity drink to replace the one he finished earlier.

“Let’s get a little music in here, it’s honestly oppressive.” Jinho remarked, and soon enough, a cliche jazz piece was filtering out of the speakers. 

“You know Chanyeol, your people are getting a little to handsy on the east side of the docks.” Jinho said easily, settling back into his ugly little chair to sip his ugly little drink. “That’s  _ mine _ still, and I don’t want them anywhere near there until things are settled.” 

“I don’t think they’re doing any wrong,” Chanyeol remarked, the ice in his water resettled and clinked against the glass. “That section’s as good as mine after tonight.”

Jinho frowned at him. “Eager, are we? Calm down Chanyeol. You know fair well that I have until the end of the week to move out of those warehouses.”

Kyungsoo and Sehun both curled their lip at that. 

“What the hell do you even have to move out of there in the first place?” Kyungsoo glared. “It’s not like those warehouses are that  _ big _ .” 

Jinho paused, and regarded the trio with a feral glint in his eyes. His eyes stopped on Kyungsoo for too long before looking back to Chanyeol.

“That, is a very good question.” 

Chanyeol snorted. 

Jinho rolled his eyes, and lit a cigarette. “Those warehouses were run by the Dragon and the Ringmaster. They wanted their things out in a very  _ specific  _ order.” 

Chanyeol’s posture stiffened, and he could feel Kyungsoo almost flinch at the mention of Kwon Jiyong and Choi Seunghyun. 

“And I would think they needed a few security measures in place before moving their product out.”

“They better be out of the area before the week is up,” Chanyeol snarled. “I will kill them without hesitation if I see them in my territory.” 

“Relax your majesty, they’ll be gone, don’t worry.” Jinho smirked, the smoke curling up around his head like a pair of snakes. 

Chanyeol didn’t relax, and Kyungsoo remained as tense as a wire behind him. 

“Oh god, I said relax!” Jinho laughed, eyes finding Kyungsoo, now somewhat hidden behind Chanyeol. “They’re going to be gone! Don’t worry. They won’t even look at you or your boys.” 

Sehun snarled at that, and Chanyeol glared. 

“Well, that’s not true. If you ever want a career change Sugar, I’m sure they’d love to break you back in.”

Chanyeol’s arm shot out to stop Sehun from surging forward.

“Are we done chit chatting? Or can we get back to what we were here for?” Chanyeol tried to redirect, he could see how this conversation could end up with Sehun shot in the forhead.

“No, I’m not done, I love seeing pretty boys riled up.” Jinho snarked, swirling his drink. “In fact, Uncle, go fetch my pet please, I want to show our guests exactly what the Dragon is training these days.” Jinho’s eyes didn’t leave Kyungsoo’s and Chanyeol felt like reaching for the gun at his side. “Little Kyungsoo didn’t quite finish his training before he left. I’d love to show him what he could have been.” 

“We are here for business If you can’t stop dragging things on then our deal will be off.” Chanyeol reached for the briefcase on the cheap glass coffee table, hoping that his bid for a regression to the topic at hand would be accepted.

“Oh, Chanyeol, don’t be a spoilsport!” Jinho giggled this time. Chanyeol felt movement behind him, and he saw more of Jinho’s gang members file into the room, as well as the Uncle from the bar, leading something on a silver chain leash.  _ Too late. _ Chanyeol thought

“Oh, there you are!” Jinho took the chain leash from the old man, who went immediately to cower behind the bar. “Did you hold uncle up? It took you so looooong to get here!” He sang in an ugly falsetto. “Daddy missed you sooooo much!”

On the end of the chain, was a very very handsome young man, he had a baggy shirt, and ratty boxers, and the leash led to a lip ring, that looked red and painful. 

Jinho yanked on the leash, so the young man was drawn closer to him and more up against his thigh. 

“I asked a question whore.” The falsetto was gone and his voice was hard. Kyungsoo sucked in a breath behind Chanyeol, and Sehun’s hand fisted into the back of Chanyeol’s jacket. “You had better  _ answer  _ me.”

“No daddy.” The softest of whispers. “I’m very sorry.”

“This is not what we are here for.” Chanyeol snarled, and stood up. “If you are going to continue this little,  _ show _ me and my money are leaving.” 

Jinhos gaze hardened, and stood pu as well, dragging the boy with him, who whimpered as his lip was pulled painfully. 

“We are here to do business. You shouldn’t back out of a deal.” Jinho threatened. “It’s bad business my dear friend.”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want to. You insist on this little show of power, threaten one of my men openly, and then expect me to sit through a parade of your sex toy.” Chanyeol felt Kyungsoo and Sehun both reach for their guns, as the click of metal around the room told Chanyeol that all of Jinho’s men had their own drawn. “I think  _ you  _ are showing us bad business.”

“Why don’t you sit down Chanyeol.” Jinho gestured to Chanyeol’s abandoned seat. “We have things to discuss.” 

“Five to one boss.” Sehun told him quietly. “Don’t get excited.”

Kyungsoo sighed. “Sehun and I are good back here. Don’t let us hold you up.”

_ Kyungsoo is okay for the moment _ . Chanyeol’s brain translated. 

Chanyeol stood for a few more tense seconds, and then folded himself back down into his seat. 

“Well, after that bit of nastiness, let’s do introductions.” Jinho spoke mostly to himself. “Boys, this is Honey, or whore, I pretty much call him whatever! He was Jiyong’s problem child, and he was going for a discount, so I decided to treat myself.” Jinho yanked the chain, and Honey whimpered quietly. 

“Business Jinho.” Chanyeol said sharply. He was close to seeing red.

“No, I want to introduce my slut to the reason Seunghyun makes Jiyong brand his pets now,and I think the reason for  _ morning routine _ !” 

Kyungsoo stiffened again. Chanyeol knew Kyungsoo was feeling the ghosts of the cigarette burns on his thighs again.

“Honey baby, that pretty little thing right there is Kyungsoo, but Jiyong called him Sugar. Get it? Soo-gar? He was the one that got away.” Jinho wiped a fake tear. “A shame really, Jiyong told me he was so  _ fun  _ to break in. Even Seunghyun liked him.” 

Kyungsoo swung around and snarled at a man who had gotten too close to him as Jinho was talking. “Back off asshole, or I cut your hands off!” 

“Kyungsoo,” Sehun murmured, “Calm down.” 

Kyungsoo drew closer to the other two and Jinho smiled. His small teeth shone pale yellow. 

“Well, I think we can do business now. Honey, fetch me that map please!” 

The young man stood up on shaky legs, stumbled once, and started to walk towards the poker table that had a map of the city curled up on it. 

“Did I say walk bitch?” Jinho tugged sharply. “Crawl like a good boy, or do you want something to cry about..” 

Chanyeol looked away to try and give the man a little decency, but he could feel his skin crawl. After a couple moments the map was spread out on the coffee table. 

“Now, we agreed on fifth street,” Jinho gestured, the chain tinkling against the glass. “To eleventh here.” 

Chanyeol nodded at that, and Jinho circled it with a pencil

“I personally want to keep the block between Tenth and Eleventh, would you take more land this way?” Jinho dragged his pen over to the slums.

Chanyeol grimaced. The Slums were more of The Monster, Kim Namjoon’s territory. His boys were ruthless in protecting their people and each other, and would not hesitate to kill. He had personally seen their youngest behead a man, and The Monster himself break a man finger by finger. Chanyeol wanted nothing closer than what he had already. He  _ needed  _ those couple blocks of buffer. 

“We agreed on what we agreed on. I came here for that only, and I will leave with that only.” Chanyeol told him, sitting back in his chair. 

“But, I don’t want to give you that, so can we compromise so this doesn’t get ugly.” Jinho huffed like an annoyed toddler. “It’s one block for me, for  _ three _ blocks for you!”

“No deal Kim, come on, we agreed on fifth to eleventh.” 

Chanyeol could see the tension in the young man on the floor’s shoulders. There were bruises down his spine, chanyeol noticed briefly. His eyes lingered only for a moment, but it was enough. 

“Park Chanyeol, come on. Work with me here, Tenth and Eleventh have nothing useful for you! A couple of empty lots, a used car dealership, and a gas station!” 

“Well, then I guess you shouldn’t need it either.” 

“Is it because what I’m giving you is close to Bangtan and the Monster? Is that it?” Jinho’s voice took an edge, and his grip tightened on the leash, pulling Honey closer to him.

“We agreed on what we agreed!” Chanyeol argued, his voice rising. “The Monster and Bangtan have nothing to do with this!”

“Well then what is it! Just take the damn blocks!” Jinho’s voice was rising too. “I’ll give you something closer to Leeteuk’s territory if that makes it better!” 

“I WANT WHAT I CAME FOR!” Chanyeol shouted. Jinho sat back in his chair. Honey squeaked.

“Then I guess we can’t do business anymore.” Jinho said softly. His voice had an edge that made the boy on the floor flinch but Chanyeol wasn’t worried. 

“I guess so then.” 

In almost slow motion, Chanyeol felt Kyungsoo and Sehun fold into motion. They fired the first shots before Jinho’s men could even reach for their weapons. 

Then, everything sped up, and the dingy room erupted into noise. Chanyeol snarled and set int motion as well. Even though they were outnumbered, the trio had the upper hand. 

Sehun dove behind the bar, and began laying down covering fire for Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to move the briefcase with the money, and themselves behind a flipped pool table. 

“PARK YOU FUCKER!” Jinho screeched from somewhere in the room. Chanyeol chucked.

Kyungsoo handed Chanyeol a cellphone before fluidly rolling out from behind the table.

_ “Boss, you want us in now?”  _ The tinny voice asked him.

“Yeah dae, you can come in. We’ve got Jinho pinned in here with us.” 

_ “Roger roger! Don’t get shot.”  _

The line went silent and Chanyeol risked a look over the pool table. Sehun and Kyungsoo were both behind the bar now, and currently engaged in a shootout with the men in the hall, bodies littered the floor, and Jinho was nowhere to be seen. 

Suddenly there was movement next to him, and Chanyeol reacted on instinct. 

His gun leveled at the forehead of a shaking young man with an intricate lip piercing. 

“Holy shit.” Chanyeol whispered, he had completely forgotten about Jinho’s “pet”. “Hey, you okay?” 

The man didn’t say anything, only stared silently at the tip of Chanyeol’s handgun. He had to look at it a little cross eyed, and Chanyeol was a tiny bit endeared. 

Chanyeol carefully lowered the handgun. “Hey, are you okay?” He used the “special voice” that Jongdae told him he got with scared kids. He hoped it worked on scared sex slaves too.

“Well,” The boy swallowed, “I’m really fucking cold, and that bastard had a tiny dick, so I’m going to say no.”

Surprised, Chanyeol blinked at him, and after a minor staring contest, Honey giggled, and Chanyeol chuckled a bit.

“Want my coat?” Chanyeol asked, feeling a little out of his depth. 

Honey shrugged, and peered carefully over the table. “Hey Mr. Mob Boss, don’t you have people to shoot?” 

Chanyeol’s brain kicked back into gear and he peered up as well. It was a little too quiet.

“Hey boys! You good?” He called into the room. 

“Yeah boss, we’re doing good! There’s a few beetles in the hall still, but we’re good.” Sehun answered. 

Chanyeol sunk back down, to the boy who was fiddling with the ring on his lip. 

“You got like a knife or something? I want this out.” The boy pouted, tugging on it a little. 

“A knife isn’t going to get that shit out, not unless you’re planning on cutting it out.” Chanyeol told him sadly, shrugging off his jacket for him. 

“Damn.” Was the quiet response he got back. 

All the sudden there was the sound of whistling air, and over the table someone cried out. 

Chanyeol spun and had his gun looking for threats in the room. 

“Boss! Someone’s got a fuckin tranq!” Sehun spat, “Soo’s out!” 

Chanyeol couldn’t see the threat, but it made itself known when there was a shriek behind him. Chanyeol turned on his heel to see Jinho holding a tranquilizer gun pointed at him, and a hand around Honey’s throat. 

“Jinho.” Chanyeol growled.

“Chanyeol~” Jinho mocked. 

“Drop him, it’s over.” Chanyeol spat, his gun trained on Jinho’s right eye, “My men are already here.”

To accentuate his point, behind him Sehun shouted in victory. “Jongdae hyung! Nice timing!” 

Jinho only smirked. “Well, you can call this a surrender then. There are plenty of my men left in the city. I’m just going to take my boy here and go. Have the property, hell, even take what  _ I  _ had wanted from you!” 

“What’s your game plan.” Chanyeol snarled, his voice gravelly.

“No plan!” Jinho called, “This is a  _ strategic retreat _ .” 

“Leave him.” Chanyeol said, as Jinho inched towards the door. “Leave your bitch and get out. You can have your life and your life only.” 

“Oh little Yeollie, so cute and soft~” Jinho cooed, “That softness is going to get you killed someday.”

“Leave. Him.” Chanyeol followed the movement with his gun. Jinho shifted his grip so that the chain that dangled from the lip ring was in his grip too. 

“I don’t think so. This whore needs to be worth the trouble he’s caused. I DID say that he was The Dragon’s problem child. Not good at obeying at all. Actually managed to bite one of my men’s finger off.” Jinho chuckled, but his shoulders and face were tense now that a few more of Chanyeol’s men had trickled into the room. 

“I bought this whore, and I own this whore. Get your own.” Jinho said with an air of finality. His argument sounded incredibly childish to Chanyeol, and behind him Sehun snorted. 

“You’re fucking useless if you think that people are things to own.” Chanyeol said sharply, and it was Jinho’s turn to snort. 

“That’s what they all say before they get one of your own. Kwon Jiyong picks them well, they’re so  _ pretty  _ to hurt, and break. Especially this one, he whines like a fuckin-”

Suddenly, Honey was pushing away from Jinho, and to Chanyeol’s horror, the lip ring tore from his lip, but in a second, Jinho was on the floor, and the young man was standing over him, his foot resting on Jinho’s throat, and his knee on the arm that held the tranquilizer gun. 

“Hey asshole.” The boy snarled, blood from his torn lip dripping onto Jinho’s face, each drop making him flinch. “You don’t own me.” 

Jinho spluttered and wriggled but Chanyeol’s men were already over there helping subdue him. 

After Kris managed to get Jinho’s arms in binders, Jinho howled and cursed. 

“You fucking bitch! Go to hell!” 

The boy regarded the wriggling man before him. Chanyeol came to stand at his shoulder. 

“I’ve been there all my life you bastard. When you get there, tell them who sent you.” Honey hissed and Chanyeol could barely react, and so could Kris before Honey had Chanyeol’s handgun and was firing a shot right through the bridge of Jinho’s nose. 

Kris turned his lip up at the gory mess that had sprayed onto his suit coat. He had only barely managed to get out of the path of the bullet. 

Jinho slumped, and the tension bled out of the boy’s shoulders. Chanyeol caught him as he stumbled backwards. He was shaking again. 

“Hey, hey, It’s okay now. It’s okay.” Chanyeol whispered as the boy turned and caught Chanyeol in a crushing hug. 

“Well, it’s really not, but thank you. Thank you so so much.” Honey whispered into Chanyeol’s chest. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Chanyeol corrected, and carefully looped his arms around the boy who fit perfectly against his chest. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Chanyeol repeated, aware but uncaring as blood slowly started to saturate his button up. “Okay boys, if you want to pick the bodies then be my guest, Kris, I’m sorry about your suit but could you get the briefcase please? Thanks. I’m going to get him to the doc.” 

Chanyeol carefully picked the now crying boy, and stepped delicately around the dead. 

“Hey, um…” Chanyeol started to ask as he made his way through the hall, Kris and the briefcase tailing dutifully behind him. “Do you have a name that I can call you?” 

“Baekhyun.” Was the slurred whisper he got in return. “Get it? Baek _ hyun _ ? Hunnie, honey?” Honey, no, Baekhyun giggled a little and Chanyeol hummed as the elevator dinged. 

“Baekhyun. Nice to meet you Baekhyun. My name’s Chanyeol.” 

Baekhyun squeezed Chanyeol’s neck in response. 

“I’m going to get you to the doctor, and then… you should know what comes next.”

Baekhyun stiffened a bit as they finally got outside. 

“No, no, that was poor wording, I think. I meant whether or not you wanted to go to school, or get a job or something. I’m sorry.” Chanyeol said quickly, and Baekhyun relaxed again. 

“If it’s okay, could you stay with me? With the doctor? Or…” Baekhyun slurred. 

“I’ll stay with you, don’t worry. No one is ever going to hurt you again.” 

“That sounds nice.” 

The stars twinkled above them, and Kris opened the door of the car for them. 

“And if you wanted, after I stay with you at the doctors, you could always stay for the near future, in my, uh, gang. If you wanted.” 

“That sounds nice too.” 

The car hummed to life, and they were off. 

Baekhyun sat up, and looked into Chanyeol’s eyes. “You said that you couldn’t own people.” 

Chanyeol nodded. “I did say that. I know what the Dragon does, and what the underworld of this damn city thinks. But you can’t own people.”

Baekhyun studied him for a second longer. Chanyeol could see his cheekbones, and the clotting blood on his ruined lip. Then he settled back against his chest. “You are friends with  _ him _ , right? Sugar? The one that got away?” 

Chanyeol swallowed and nodded. 

“Is he okay now? Is he better?” 

Chanyeol smiled at that mumble. “He is very much better. He has a dog, and three fish, and a husband actually.”

Baekhyun sighed, still slurring his words to move his lip as little as possible. “I like dogs. Do you think he’d be my friend if I asked?” 

Chanyeol didn’t hesitate when he answered, “Absolutely.”

“Would you be my friend too? You said you’d keep me safe...”

Chanyeol hugged the boy closer. “I would be anything for you, especially a friend.” 

“I like you. I’ll stay.”

The car went silent after that. Kris in the front, Jongin in the driver’s seat, and Chanyeol in the back with Baekhyun curled up in his lap, playing with a button on Chanyeol’s shirt. 

“Thank you.” Baekhyun whispered again. 

Chanyeol grinned softly. The road unfurled before them, and Chanyeol could feel Baekhyun’s heartbeat.


	2. Listen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sehun is a high class escort, ie. rich man's prostitute. He's had to work under the same company since he was twelve, but at least he has Baekhyun. But his world drowns on a Tuesday, and everything is not okay.
> 
> (y'all this gets rough, on a scale of "eh" to "fuck, you're a monster" it's like closer to the "Fuck, You're a monster" be warned)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Sehun/Baekhyun  
> !!Warnings!!  
> -implied/referenced noncon  
> -implied/referenced underage noncon  
> -prostitution  
> -abuse  
> -explicit mentions of sex
> 
> Word Count  
> 4196

Sehun opened the door to his and Baekhyun’s shared apartment very quietly. He toed his shoes off and crept over to the kitchen, to get some water and painkillers from the counter. The bottle rattled, and Sehun froze for a moment, the rattle was loud inside the fuzzy silence of the apartment.

Everything was dark, and soft like the night, their apartment still barely lit up by the lights of the city outside, and everything in silent shadow. He had to be quiet, to keep the only other occupant of the apartment asleep. God knew that his hyung needed sleep more than he did. 

“Sehun?” a quiet voice called out from a darkened room, and Sehun cursed internally. “Is that you?”

“Who else would it be hyung?” He whispered back, not wanting to break the silence that had fallen. Words always were awkward and heavy in his mouth and he had spoken too loud before, he liked this safe blanket of white noise and dark that had settled.

“Come to bed please.” The voice demanded softly, and Sehun cracked a tired grin. It pulled at the stiff muscles in his jaw, but it felt good to smile.

“I need to shower and clean up, I’ll just be five minutes, okay?” 

An affirming grunt was the only answer he received, and Sehun was sure that Baekhyun had drifted back off to sleep.

Sehun discarded his low cut tank top in the hallway, and his tight skinny jeans landed in the pile of “work clothes, to be washed” near the laundry closet door. 

The shower did nothing really, to relive his aching lower back and thighs, and he hoped the painkillers kicked in soon, but it felt good enough on the aches that were forming, and even though the water pressure was shit, it felt good on his neck. 

His shower lasted about three minutes, as he worked the product out of his hair, and the makeup off of his face, and tried to scrub the bruises on his hips away. They never washed off though, and Sehun could only frown at them in the slightly foggy mirror. He snagged a pair of boxers out of the special “after work soft clothes” drawer in the bathroom, and after a pause, he grabbed a baggy T-Shirt, he didn’t want Baekhyun to see tonight’s damages yet. It would be easier for his hyung to relax if he thought Sehun had come home safe. He shimmied into the boxers and the t-shirt carefully.

He was quick though, because Baekhyun was likely waiting for him. 

His suspicions were correct as he slid into the small bed, the only bed, and pulled Baekhyun up into his chest. 

“Hi hyung.” he whispered into Baekhyun’s ear, and Baekhyun grumbled. 

“Hey Sehunnie.” Was his quiet response. The words blew into his exposed collarbone and he gave an exaggerated shiver that made Baekhyun giggle sleepily.

They slipped into a quiet silence, as the occasional car rumbled past outside, and the fan that was plugged in in the corner of the room whirred and creaked as it turned. 

“How was-,” Baekhyun snapped Sehun out of the doze he had slipped into. “How was it tonight?” His voice was still soft, but there was frightened tension underneath it. There was always fear, and Sehun  _ always  _ resented that fear.

“Tonight was alright, don’t worry about me hyung.” Sehun reassured him gently. “I only had four clients, it was easy.” 

Baekhyun hummed, and curled into Sehun even more. 

“I don’t believe you. I heard the advil bottle.” 

Sehun sighed, his nose blowing into Baekhyun’s soft hair. “You have the ears of Jesus. What if I told you it was tic tacs? For jizz breath?” 

Baekhyun snorted. “You brushed your teeth in the shower, and it’s not like I would have cared. Why did you rattle the advil bottle?” 

“My back hurts just a little, and my thighs are sore.” He admitted, and Baekhyun wriggled around so that he was facing Sehun, still in his arms, but face to face.  _ Curse the maraca of pain relief.  _ He thought. 

Baekhyun’s dark eyes were visible even in the low light of the room, the streetlamps outside casting a yellow highlight over his face. Sehun thought he was beautiful. He had always thought that, even when he had been twelve and scared because there were  _ men  _ in the room where his Mom had left him, left him for good, and the ugliest man was telling Sehun that Sehun was  _ his  _ now, and the skinny older boy behind the ugly man had looked at Sehun like he could see Sehun’s soul. It could have been love at first sight, except they were both broken, and unlike cheesy fanfiction and dollar store romance novels, their broken pieces didn’t fit perfectly into each others. Sehun had loved him at first sight, but it wasn’t  _ love  _ love. Sehun knew Baekhyun was someone Sehun would willingly die for, would willingly be put on the “naughty boys” list in the main office, for the sadists and the perverts to order off of. Sehun would take every form of pain for Baekhyun.

But Baekhyun just studied him, unaware of the lengthy monologue in Sehun’s head. Same stare that he had pinned baby Sehun with.

“I worry.” He said simply, and tucked his face into Sehun’s chest. “I worry about you, because you, you,-” 

“I keep picking up clients.” Sehun finished for him, rubbing Baekhyun’s back in gentle circles. “It’s going to be okay, I make money, they won’t hurt a cash cow.”

“I’m worried.” Baekhyun whispered, from the safety of Sehun’s heartbeat against his ear. “They’re getting desperate, for more.”

Sehun frowned, and hugged Baekhyun impossibly closer. 

“Sleep hyung, we can worry in the morning.” Sehun murmured. Baekhyun sniffed, and the dark room quieted. The fan creaked, and if Sehun had to give his very soul to never move from this soft, warm, quiet,  _ safe _ moment, then he would give it over in a heartbeat. 

 

The morning was ugly. An ugly blue sky, with ugly white clouds, ugly sunshine, and ugly purple, green and yellow bruises that littered Sehun’s hips, throat, collarbone, wrists, and ankles. 

He was awake before Baekhyun though, so he tried his best to cover up the noticeable ones, the concealer worked it’s magic, and Sehun relaxed slightly. 

The coffee machine hissed at him as he shook five advil out of the little plastic bottle.  _ Damn maraca. _

“Good morning~” Baekhyun yawned, and wrapped his arms around Sehun’s front, his right hand automatically resting above Sehun’s heart. 

Sehun smiled, and Baekhyun kissed his spine. 

“I have coffee. And I can do scrambled eggs, if there’s milk.” He said to the warm leech on his back. 

“Sounds good.” the leech mumbled back. “Why’re you taking pain pills again.”

Sehun froze up a bit at that, and Baekhyun rubbed circles on his stomach. He brushed another hand over Sehun’s hips and felt it when Sehun tensed.

“It wasn’t a good night, was it.” The shorter man sighed, and released Sehun. “Strip, I’m going to get ice packs and bruise cream.”

“Baekhyun-” 

“No. Strip Sehun, or do I have to do it for you.” Gone was his normal morning sleepiness.  _ Damn it.  _ Sehun cursed internally as his coffee steamed innocently on the counter. He glared at it instead of his hyung.

“Strip Sehun. Hurry up.”

Sehun stripped, and stood in the middle of the kitchen. The day already felt sticky, and he was glad there was no cold air to bite at his exposed ass. 

Baekhyun returned to the kitchen, and tried to hide his surprise at the ugly bruises marking Sehun. From his fifteen minutes just staring at them in the mirror this morning, Sehun knew that he was tracing the practical handprints, and dark splotches of fingertips like mud on his back. They marked Sehun as last night’s clients almost property, and the pink skin around them said that Sehun had done his best to scrub them off of his skin. 

Baekhyun shuddered slightly and then gestured at Sehun’s makeup covered head.

He held up a washcloth. “Get that shit off of your face and neck. I need to see them all.” 

Sehun scrubbed diligently. The bruises on his throat came into the light, and Baekhyun took a deep breath. 

“Anything else I need to know about?” He asked quietly, as he placed an ice pack onto the bruises on Sehun’s throat, and moved Sehun’s hands to hold it in place. 

Sehun shook his head slowly, as Baekhyun massaged bruise cream into his ankles. 

“What was it this time?” He asked, as he moved up Sehun’s legs. Sehun didn’t think Baekhyun actually wanted to know, but he started talking anyways.

“The ankles are some rich prick who wanted my legs spread, wanted to do it himself. Used paracord, I think. Throat is some old man. Smelled like ketchup, and liked choking. Not very fun.” 

Baekhyun tutted, and pressed a quick kiss onto Sehun’s navel. Sehun kept rambling on. 

“I was lucky, only two of my johns wanted my ass, one of them wanted to fuck my throat, but he wasn’t even big enough to get to my gag reflex,” Sehun shivered as baekhyun moved an ice pack onto the purple and green splotches on his thigh. “One dude just wanted me to beg, like, really beg. It was weird. My knees hurt a bit, cuz we were in the back of his car, and it wasn’t like, gravel or whatever free, and it was like that one time Mr. Nam made me kneel on rice cuz I was mouthy, but it wasn’t as bad. My knees weren’t bleeding, and I was only there for like thirty minutes. I didn’t even have to touch the guy though. Just had to keep saying ‘oh please, master, I need your cock, please, I need it so bad’ and the dude came. It was weird, do you think that’s like a praise kink or someth-” 

Baekhyun put a hand over his mouth, and smiled tiredly. “That’s enough Sehunnie. You don’t need to keep talking.”

Sehun nodded. Baekhyun removed his hand slowly, but not quick enough for Sehun not to manage to lick him once. 

“You are a child.” Baekhyun told him. Sehun grinned. 

“What time is it? Where’s the coffee?”

And that was the end of it. 

 

Sehun’s world started to deepen into something deep enough to drown him on a Tuesday afternoon. 

Baekhyun wasn’t supposed to come home until late that night. Mr. Nam had started to write out schedules, so everyone knew everyone’s business. 

Baekhyun had three clients lined up in the afternoon to late at night. Sehun expected to fall asleep waiting for him, and wake up to his little spoon tucked into his arms around one in the morning. 

But the creaky door opened around five in the afternoon, and Sehun looked up from the free paper he had nabbed from the shitty cafe he worked at in the daytime. 

“Baek-” he started, but Baekhyun pushed past him, was through the little apartment and slamming the door to their bedroom. 

“Hyung.” Sehun said softer, as he stood, and walked the two feet to the door. He could hear the sniffles inside the room that signified a meltdown. 

“Hyung, can I come in?” 

The lock on the door had long since been broken, so Sehun slipped into the room easily. Baekhyun was curled up on their twin bed, close to the wall, and shaking with silent sobs. 

Sehun crawled into bed after him, and curled around the older boy, as if to be a protective shield. 

Sehun held him for a long time, his eyes closed, whispering nonsense into the room shrouded in afternoon shadows. 

Finally Baekhyun stopped hiccuping, only the unsteady breaths and puffy eyes left of his tears. 

“I’m a really good listener.” Sehun said quietly, into the junction of Baekhyun’s neck and shoulders. 

The smaller boy shuddered, and pushed himself upwards on his elbows. 

He sat up and faced Sehun. A thick silver lip ring sat in the center of his full lips. The hole where it sat was red and painful, and very new looking. 

“Mr. Nam has a new marketing idea for me.” He whispered, and Sehun pulled him into a hug. 

“I’m so scared Hunnie.” The man said, his face buried in Sehun’s worn t-shirt. “I saw his ideas, I saw them, and I’m so scared.” 

Sehun held him tight. “Don’t worry hyung, I can protect you, don’t worry.” He kissed Baekhyun’s forehead, and then licked him to break the thick fear that had crept in through the open bedroom door.

Baekhyun giggled wetly. “Wow, my own prince charming. Too bad he’s a literal five year old.” 

“Knight in shining armour.” Sehun corrected, wiping tears from his cheeks. “I’m sorry, but what are your new marketing plans?” 

Sehuns own were labeled by the company as “cute, but handsome switch twink, that’s both submissive and capable for whatever your needs are. Has a thing for bondage and is a masochist, and willing to try anything.” 

The other ‘employees’ called it “bi and curious. Loves to ride and be ridden.” The private escort firm they were employed by catered to everyone’s needs, and sometimes he resented it. 

Baekhyun just shook his head, and sighed. “You don’t need to fix everything baby.”

Sehun decided then and there, that he hated that lip ring, that was horrible enough that Baekhyun wouldn’t let him help shoulder his burdens. He hated it with a passion, but he kissed Baekhyun on the lips that night, to try to tell him that the lip ring was okay, and they would be okay. It tasted sour on his tongue, and Sehun tried not to make a face. 

“I’m always going to be a really good listener.” He whispered, as Baekhyun fell asleep tucked between Sehun and the wall, safe and secure in the little blanket nest.

Baekhyun hummed, and Sehun felt his shiver. His lip glinted in the sliver of light that fell between the curtains from the street light outside.

He hated that lip ring.

 

Six weeks later, Sehun wasn’t closer to learning what Baekhyun’s new marketing scheme was. Every now and then, there was a reprieve for the workers, in the way that they mingled with newer clients at a lavish dinner in the company building. They waited on the clients, and talked, and pretty much sold themselves. The reprieve was only that no sexual services were allowed to be performed at the dinner. 

Sehun had an almost sheer white button up on, and figure hugging pants, highlighting his thin waist, and dainty face. His nametag with his service number was stuck to his pants on the thigh. 

The simple “Hi my name is: 084” marking him as product. 

Everyone that worked had outfits that they wore, and they weaved in and out of the crowd with drinks and appetizers. Sehun swore he saw Johnny Seo in just leather pants, and Minseok in booty shorts, so he was glad for his more covering outfit. 

Baekhyun was nowhere to be found though, and a dark rock of dread was starting to form in Sehun’s stomach. 

“Hey, Tao?” He murmured to another worker as they restocked the champagne flutes they carried on their trays. “You seen Baekhyun?”

Tao shook his head. “There are a few people missing, so it’s no suprise. Yesung hyung is, Ryeowook hyung is freaking out because of it,  Kibum hyung is gone, and so is Kyungsoo hyung, Taeyongie, Jungwoo-ah, the babies Renjunnie and Jeno-ah are gone, Taeminnie, Leeteuk hyung, Jongdae hyung-”

“Okay, okay. So there’s a lot of people missing.” Sehun murmured, frustrated. 

Tao nodded. “I can’t figure out where they went though, I’ve even asked a couple regulars I’ve seen here. I would have sworn that Mr. Wu would have had answers, he’s like in the freaking mafia. No idea why he wants to be here, he’s already a loyal customer, and there’s more perverts here than a freaking strip club. But yeah, I don’t have any information. I’m sorry.”

Sehun sighed. “Thanks man. I’ll see if anyone else knows anything.”

He worked his way back out to the table of young-ish business men that he was sweet talking earlier. 

“Sorry sirs, I got a little distracted.” He giggled, trading their empty glasses for full ones. “Did you miss me?”

There were murmurs of assent from around the table, and Sehun moved to pick up the last glass. 

Sehun managed to giggle and flirt his way through the dinner, and Baekhyun was still missing. 

The next day he was missing still, and the day after that. Tao normally had all the information, but everyone was still MIA, and Sehun was beginning to panic. Everyone was starting to panic. Sehun even started asking his clients. Most of the time he earned a pinch to his arm or thigh for being “mouthy” or “ruining the mood”, but Mr. Lu, one of his regulars only looked at him sadly, and Sehun started to fear the worst.

 

When Baekhyun walked through the door to their apartment late on the fourth day, almost the fifth, Sehun wanted to cry in relief, and when Baekhyun tentatively toed his shoes off, Sehun really did start to cry. 

“Hyung.” He whined as Baekhyun sank into his lap. “Hyung, hyung where did you go, why did you leave, hyung please, please don’t do that again.” 

Baekhyun didn’t say anything, just sat completely still in the almost cage of Sehun’s arms. Sehun just held him close. 

Baekhyun walked Sehun through their normal routine of brushing teeth, putting on clothes to sleep in, and setting out things for tomorrow in complete silence. 

Sehun followed him like a shadow, afraid that he was just imagining things, and that when he blinked, he’d be back in an empty apartment. 

Finally when Baekhyun was curled into his normal spot between Sehun’s chest and the wall, did Baekhyun break the mask of emotionlessness that he was wearing. 

“Sehunnie.” Baekhyun’s voice cracked, and then Sehun had an armful of sobbing hyung. 

His own tears slipped hot down his cheeks, but he just held on to the shaking man in his arms and tried to comfort and understand.

“Hyung-” Sehun started, afraid that Baekhyun would go back to the robot earlier, “I’m a really good listener.” 

Baekhyun nodded, his own tears damp on Sehun’s shirt and the pillow. “I-I know Se-sehunnie.” He hiccuped. The lip ring bobbed with every word, and it drew Sehun’s eyes. 

“Can I listen to you then?” Sehun whispered, Baekhyun shivered, and the fan in the corner sputtered and creaked. 

“It’s- It’s bad hunnie, it’s s-so bad. I’m gonn- gonna die.” Baekhyun whimpered, hiding his face and hands in Sehun’s baggy t-shirt. “I’m gonna d-die and so is L-leeteuk hyung, and- and Jongd-jongdae hyung, and Kibummie, and and, e-everyone, and-”

“Shhhhhhh. It’s okay now, you’re safe right now.” Sehun whispered, his breath moving a couple silky hairs on Baekhyun’s head. 

“It’s so so b-bad.” Baekhyun cried softly, tears falling again. 

“Please, don’t keep this just by yourself,” Sehun pleaded, “I’m strong, I can keep you safe.” 

“Y-you can’t fix-fix everyth-thing.” Baekhyun bawled.

“I can try. I’m very strong, muscles of iron.” Sehun told him, trying to make Baekhyun laugh, instead of these awful tears.

Sehun flexed for good measure, wiry muscles jumping in attention.

Baekhyun giggled wetly, and sniffed. 

“It’s, it’s the new mark-marketing campaign. It’s so b-bad.” Baekhyun drew in a shuddering breath and peeled himself out of Sehun’s arms. He sat up and clicked the lamp on the bedside table on. “It’s like, l-long rentals, of jus-just living b-breathing  _ toys _ .” He spat the last word out.

Sehun sat up too, and crossed his legs. Baekhyun’s dark brown hair stuck up in places, and Sehun wanted to smooth it down and just  _ comfort _ . 

“They took us, and-and split us up in-into pairs, everyo-one that was g-gone. Higher class bus-business men. I was w-with one of the babies. Renjunnie was-was so s-scared.  _ I _ was sc-scared.” 

Baekhyun gently lifted his long sleeve shirt up, and Sehun realized that he hadn’t seen Baekhyun at all when they both changed into pajamas. There was an assortment of bruises and marks on Baekhyun’s stomach and chest, and arms. Sehun felt himself pale as he saw a near perfect boot print on Baekhyun’s side. 

“Th-the lip ring at-attaches to a  _ leash _ and we-we have to do  _ whatever  _ “master” says. P-perfect obedience. The-the rules don’t apply anymore, they, they can hit, and b-burn, and do any-anything.” Baekhyun sucked in a shuddering breath, “Th-they left J-junnie almost ha-hanging from his lip r-ring, and I had, I had to  be  _ good _ or they’d,” another breath, “They’d start hurt-hurting him!” 

Sehun could only be silent. The company that pretty much owned them had a set of rules for renters. No lasting marks, no outright abuse unless pre approved, if you wanna hurt something get a boy from the naughty list, you can only rent one at a time. Baekhyun shivered. 

“I tried, I-I tried so hard, to be good, but-but I w-was supposed to clean, th-the house naked, and I-I was too short, to reach s-some of the cabinets, so they b-broke his-” He gasped. “Th-they broke two of-of his finge-fingers, and they m-made me watch, they made m-me wa-watch while th-they...” Baekhyun trailed off, unable to continue, his eyes seeing something else. “He screamed. S-so much.”

Baekhyun drew in another breath, and tried to calm down, but just continued to shake.

Sehun gently kissed the top of Baekhyun’s head. “Stay here hyung. I’ll go get the bruise cream, and the ice pack. It felt eerily similar to when Baekhyun had dealt with Sehun’s bruises all those weeks ago. 

Sehun sat back down a few moments later, and began to softly work bruise cream into the worst ones. 

“Sehun-hunnie, I th-think that Mr. N-Nam wants to make this e-everyone.” Baekhyun closed his eyes and let goosebumps prickle on his bare arms as Sehun pressed the ice pack into the boot print on Baekhyun’s side. “We’re g-going to die. W-we can’t live if, if this is wha-what is going t-to happen.” Baekhyun opened his eyes.

“We’ll have to do something then.” Sehun said quietly, head down, just in case Baekhyun thought he was stupid. 

Baekhyun however, tilted Sehun’s head up to meet Baekhyun’s eyes. 

“Sehun.” Baekhyun said seriously, and then sniffed, “What are you talking about.” 

Sehun’s eyes darted away. “If, if it’s as bad as you think it’s going to be, maybe we, we should do something about it.” 

“Sehun.” Baekhyun’s voice was flat. “You are proposing o-overthrowing a major operation in the underworld here, or, or organizing around fifty escorts t-to run away.”

Sehun only swallowed. “Well, I- I mean. One of my regulars, uh, is connected to a, uh big Chinese gang, He- he could help.” Baekhyun didn’t move, his eyes still flat, “and I know, um, a lot of us, have favors, um with well,  _ people _ like my regular, that could, um help us get away?” 

Baekhyun didn’t move. 

“Nevermind hyung. It’s a stupid idea, just us, we can get away, I’ll take you away, we can go to maybe Europe, or America, or Canada, or-”

“Hunnie, how many people have favors to cash in?” Baekhyun asked, his voice changing from the flatness to something more interested. 

“Well, I have Mr. Lu, and Taozi has his partner Wu, and Kibummie and Taeminnie have someone, Yesung hyung has a LOT of connections, and so does Leeteuk hyung, but that’s only because they’ve been here a long time, pretty much everyone has  _ something _ , but Xiumin hyung has-” 

Sehun sucked in a deep breath and looked at Baekhyun, who was fiddling with the lip ring. His eyes were bright, and Sehun was shocked. 

“Sehun, would these connections and favors, actually help us?” 

Sehun nodded, he felt breathless. He nodded more enthusiastically again. 

“Could we do it?” Baekhyun murmured almost to himself, “If, well, maybe if we did…” 

Sehun fiddled with a string on the bed, still a little confused and incredulous. 

“Sehunnie, would these contacts help us get away?” Baekhyun asked, resting a pale hand on Sehun’s ankle.

“Well, um, maybe? I know that Kibummie and Taeminnie’s man would help, I think they’ve fallen in love, um Lu and Wu would help I think, I don’t know? Yes?”

Baekhyun stared at him for a moment, and then a huge grin split his face. He started to giggle. 

“Okay, okay, this is a lot, this is a LOT to take in, Sehun you freaking genius child we, oh my god, we could actually do this, we could get out.” Baekhyun giggled, also breathless. 

“We could?” Sehun’s head was spinning, and Baekhyun looked at him like he could see everything, everything Sehun was thinking, and feeling.

“If we do this  _ right _ we could get out. I think, I think I have an idea. It could work! Sehun I need some paper, oh my god, Sehun, you gotta listen to me now!”

Sehun grinned, the smile splitting his face. “I am  _ very  _ good at listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooooo, wassup guys! I'm still enjoying hell, but it's getting better because Yixing has a new MV today and it's in english, and I'm definitely okay, haha, don't worry about me (I'm not okay what the heck Yixing can someone call the police there was a freaking murder)
> 
> Soooo, let's talk about this chapter. All the references are other SM artists, and I'll kinda do a list down below, but this was WAYY more intense than I planned for it to be, but what can you do (I'm a terrible person I'm so sorry) This was actually my third chapter planned out, but it was more finished than my Kai/Baekhyun chapter so like, this one is going up first! I want to dedicate this to artificialdragon, but idk if they wanted a chapter like this. Let's make it a shoutout then! SHOUTOUT TO artificialdragon WHO IS AMAZING AND COMPLETELY RIGHT MONSTER IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY PLOT BUNNIES I'VE HAD TO CORALL BECAUSE OF IT. Anyways, artificialdragon, LOVE YOU!   
> Okay, my list!  
> Y'all should know Tao, and Jongdae, and Minseok, and Kyungsoo cuz they're exo and this IS an EXO fic, but who knows, pls love them. Mr. Wu and Mr. Lu are Luhan and Kris (I found it funny cuz I made them partners in this fic (of what, I don't know) but Wu and Lu was humorous to me)   
> Yesung, Ryeowook, and Leeteuk are Super Junior, we love them too  
> Kibum, and Taemin are both SHINee, and we really love SHINee, I'm only now getting into their music, which sucks, but I've had Taemin's "Move" on my phone forever, cuz it's fuckin great. Also Kibum and Taemin's man/client they've fallen in love with is Minho (no regrets he's freaking hot)  
> Taeyong, Jungwoo, Renjun(I'm so sorry Renjun I love you and one of these days I'm going to write a fic where all the people I've wronged like you just have everythng right happen to them, and all that. Complete tooth destroying fluff, I promise) and Jeno are all NCT! (WHOS PUMPED FOR REGULAR IRREGUALR CUZ I AM LIKE HELL YES I'm Johnny and Jungwoo biased, so I died when I saw Irregular Office)  
> Okay love you guys bye!   
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pne7e_FGGsM (Irregular Office)  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArF1OQFQHzw (Lay's new MV, Give Me a Chance)


	3. Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yixing is a hitman, and a GOOD hitman at that, he has worked this underworld for years, but he has never seen someone like the "pet" that a gang hands to him to keep him company while he has to wait. After that, he can't keep his mind of the young man, and this might not be a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Yixing/Baekhyun  
> !!Warnings!!  
> -Implied Non Con  
> -abuse  
> -Violence
> 
> Word Count: 5737

Yixing is good at what he does. In his line of work, it’s  _ very  _ important to be good at what he does. His job has gotten him many great things in this world and his job managed to get him something very important in his life. 

 

Yixing cleaned his rifle slowly, waiting for the man who hired him to show up and give him the other half of his payment. The way he worked, he got a majority of his payment before a job, and then the rest after the job. This particular job, had been straightforward, simple elimination, and he should have been in and out of this meeting in under ten minutes. Here he was though, still waiting. 

The dusty lounge they placed him had water stains on the ceiling, and ugly brown shag carpet. Nothing like his clean, neatly organized apartment. 

He sat for about fifty minutes, assembling and reassembling his rifle, sharpening knives, and picking through the pockets in his sleeves that hold his throwing knives. He was bored, and really wanted to get home, to his bed, and his cat, and the leftover noodles in his fridge.

The door banged open suddenly, and a very fat man waddled into the room. 

“Ah! Y áng! I see you were waiting, I’m sorry to keep you!” The man’s voice was loud, and Yixing recognized him as his employer, and the head of the Da gang. 

The fat man seemed a little out of breath, as he spoke, “It is finished, right?” 

Yixing just stared. 

The fat man laughed, “Of course it is. You are the great marksman!” 

Yixing still stared, if he hadn’t had a facade to maintain, he would have rolled his eyes. “I assume you have what I was promised? The job was very simple.” 

The man fumbled with an envelope stuck in his pocket before proudly placing it on the table. 

“Of course  Y áng, we would never short you on your payment. You’ve done good work in the past, I included a bonus as well!” The man’s stomach jiggled as he spoke, Yixing felt his own stomach tense slightly. 

He carefully rifled through the bills in the envelope, and sure enough, there was two hundred extra. A small bonus, but a bonus nonetheless, Yixing thought about the new sheets he could buy, and how he could treat himself to a good coffee after this meeting was done.

The man prattled on as Yixing was lost in thought. His attention was drawn back though at the prompt of his name.

“ Y áng? I apologize, but we have more of a problem with the,” The man coughed, “snakes and rats than I expected after we investigated further at your information.” 

“You would ask me to do something about it?” Yixing asked, raising an eyebrow.  

“I would. If you could look into a Huang Zitao for me please, I believe he is  actually a double agent for the Dragon, and his group of thugs.” The Fat man curled his lip at the mention of the Dragon, Yixing wanted to roll his eyes again. 

“Of course, I have nothing else pressing on my schedule. It will cost more, because of the dealings with the Dragon. You understand, right?”

The fat man nodded vigorously. Yixing actually had no problem dealing with Kris Wu’s ragtag mob and their groupies, but the Dragon was one of the most feared men in the underworld, and if that fear got him a couple hundred more dollars in his pockets, then Yixing was glad to use it. 

“Do you want information, or my full services?” Yixing asked, his hands unconsciously tracing the throwing knives in his sleeves. He knew that the men stationed around the room saw, and one of them gulped nervously. 

“Information only, I can’t afford you!” The man joked, expecting Yixing to laugh, but Yixing was silent, thinking again. 

“Well,” The man cleared his throat, unsettled slightly, “I’ll get you your information, if you could wait for a little longer…” 

Yixing fixed the man with an unimpressed stare. “I am a very busy man. And I do not like to be kept waiting.” 

Yixing didn’t actually have things to do, but Yifan, back when they were solid friends, had told him to always make people squirm, it got him fear. 

The Fat man sighed and motioned to a man standing near the door. “Go fetch him please, and tell Cheng that I’m going to need a full file report on our problem.”

Yixing was confused,  _ him _ ?  _ That sounded ominous. What are they doing? _

“Yes sir.” The man stalked out of the room, and the Fat man turned back to Yixing. 

“Understand,  Y áng, that this is a one time offer, not every gang lets outsiders play with their pet.”

Yixing’s insides froze. Pet,  _ him _ . The damn fools were giving him a whore to keep him occupied while he waited. 

Yixing made his face a blank mask, but before Yixing could protest, the Fat Man had stood up, and stepped heavily out of the room. “I’m off to get your files  Y áng! I do hope you enjoy!” 

Yixing sat frozen still, he absolutely would not enjoy a whore. _I should just turn the job down and get out of here. I don’t have the damn energy to deal with this._ _Goddamn monsters._

He quickly started to pack his guns, but just as he was about to leave, the man who had left earlier opened the door, and entered leading something on a chain. 

Yixing followed the chain up to the face of a young man. He was  _ beautiful,  _ even if there was a large black eye decorating his face, and the chain led to a lip ring set in the center of the bottom of his plump lips. It looked painful.  

“This is the pet, he’ll respond to anything, he knows not to run away, but if he makes you angry, feel free to punish him. Mr. Zhīfáng said to give you just as much control as Zhīfáng has himself.” The man barked out, pushing the boy into the room. “Please enjoy our hospitality, Yáng.” 

The door closed and the shivering boy eyed Yixing, as if to see if he could take him in a fight. 

Yixing sighed and leaned back against the couch. “I’m not going to hurt you, or touch you. If you want to sit on the couch, then feel free.”

The boy carefully edged towards the farthest couch, and lowered himself down. Yixing unpacked his guns again, and began to take his rifle apart. 

The boy watched carefully for ten minutes, but startled terribly when someone started shouting another room over. 

Yixing paused. “It’s okay, It’s okay. No one is going to dare to hurt you while I’m in the room.” He reassured him. The boy shivered and stood up shakily. 

Yixing was frozen again when he stepped around the coffee table and tucked himself into Yixing’s side. He was warm.

“You don’t have to do-” Yixing started but was cut off by a relaxed sigh coming from the young man on his left. 

“Thank you.” The boy whispered, and settled down even more to watch Yixing’s hands. 

Yixing went back to assembling and reassembling his gun.

 

It was an hour of silence before Zhīfáng knocked on the room. “My friend! Are you clothed!?” 

The boy jumped, and looked about wildly. He suddenly looped the chain through Yixing’s hand, and tucked himself farther behind Yixing. 

Yixing patted the boy’s leg reassuringly, and then called out to the barely cracked door. “I am Zhīfáng. Are you prepared now, or will you keep me waiting even longer?” 

The fat man entered the room, and immediately frowned at the boy shivering next to Yixing. 

“Get down.” He then turned to Yixing. “Apologies  Y áng, they must have forgotten to tell you that it is not allowed on the couches.”

Yixing raised an eyebrow, but the fat man kept frowning at the young man on Yixing’s left. 

The boy carefully stood up, and Yixing internally mourned the loss of the warm figure next to him. Yixing watched him slide to his knees next to the fat man’s legs. 

“Was he enjoyable company?” Zhīfáng smirked. 

Yixing nodded, and picked up the folder that had been set on the table. 

“Is this all you have for me?” 

Zhīfáng looked started as Yixing stood up, gently placing the chain on the table between them. 

“Yes, yes, that is all. I hope you will come again, to discuss!” 

Yixing stretched, and hoisted the bag that contained his rifle up over his shoulder. “Maybe.”

He stalked out of the door. 

 

A week later, he was sitting in a mirrored room. A tall frowning man sat next to him, and a blonde young man sat across from him. 

“You realize, Zitao, that you have not used any discretion at all?” The Dragon growled. “You have put yourself in danger, and the fragile peace with the Dà gang!”

“I know, I’m sorry.” The blonde boy sniffed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Tt won’t happen again.”

“You’re completely right it won’t. You are on house arrest for the next month.” 

Yixing sat silently, the folder given to him by Zhīfáng Dà on the middle of the table. 

“Baba! That’s not fair! You can’t just-”

“I can and I will, Zitao. Now, if you’re nice about this, we won’t get Suho involved.” 

Zitao pouted. He was only nineteen, and Yixing could tell that The Dragon’s words made him angry. He opened his mouth to argue more, but Yifan cut him off. 

“I have to thank you Lay, you didn’t have to come to us and tell me that my  _ son  _ is in one of my rival’s claws and that he’s been foolish and blatant with his actions.” 

Yixing nodded, and feeling that the meeting was done, he gathered his folders, and the extra information that Yifan had provided him with. 

“Good health friend!” He called softly as he exited, he could hear as soon as he left the room, Zitao kick up more of a fight. Their arguments in rapid fire mandarin made the shorter man outside the door snort. 

“Make sure Yifan knows that I’ll be back to talk to him after I have gone back to the whale.” He told him, and the pretty man nodded. 

Yixing sighed and started the trek out of the Dragon’s building.

 

When Yixing got home, two days later, his apartment was quiet, and dark. His fish circled in their lit tank, and the only thing that showed him that his cat was awake was the red circles of her reflected eyes. 

He didn’t bother turning the lights on, just dropped his rifle bag and backpack on the couch and kicked off his shoes. 

His cat stood to follow him, and he walked heavily to his bedroom, the warm and soft covers calling him like siren song. 

He wanted to sleep so bad, but when he tried to close his eyes, he could see the boy that they had brought him back in the Fat Man’s lounge, and the blatant fear in his eyes when the men had walked back into the room. 

Yixing was confused by that, his heart told him “keep safe, keep safe, keep safe” with each pound of blood through his veins, but Yixing barely knew the young man. 

His cat purred on his chest, and he ran his fingers through her fur. 

_ I wonder if he likes cats?  _ He thought, and then blinked.  _ What?  _

Yixing didn’t sleep much that night. 

 

Next monday found him back in the Da “lair”, looking back at a paler Zhīfáng.

“Y-you said that Huang Zitao, is the Dragon’s  _ son?!”  _

Yixing nodded, and pushed the information Yifan had given him forward. “The Dragon doesn’t want trouble, but he wants his son cut out of your operations immediately.” 

Zhīfáng nodded, thumbing through the documents. “I see, I see, Yang, could you wait here for a while? I need to cross check some of this, and make a few calls.” 

Yixing frowned. “You doubt my validity? You doubt the information I collected?!”

Zhīfáng’s fingers stuttered, and his head shot up, “Of course not! Of course not! We would never doubt you! I, I just need to make some calls!” 

Yixing fixed him with a glare. “And you plan to keep me waiting again?” 

Zhīfáng vigorously shook his head. “I would rather not keep you waiting, but you had an enjoyable wait last time, did you not?” 

Yixing didn’t move, although his lip curled up a little. Zhīfáng took this as a smile, even though it was a grimace. 

“Excellent! I’ll have someone bring him back for you!” He hurried out of the room, and Yixing sank tiredly onto the couch. 

Only three minutes and fifteen seconds passed (Yixing was keeping track) before the door opened again and someone shoved the boy into the room. 

“If you are in need of anything Mr. Yang, please do not hesitate to ask. Mr. Da will be back in about an hour and a half.” Someone said, before the door closed and the boy was looking at Yixing with dark eyes. 

“Hello again. I’m sorry about this.” Yixing rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Make yourself comfortable.”

This time, instead of the thin underwear, the boy was naked. His thighs shook even with the strain of keeping himself upright. 

Yixing pulled his phone out of his pocket, and the boy folded himself down into Yixing’s side.

Yixing texted his neighbor to let him know that he might be home later than he planned. While his fingers flew across the screen, the boy shivered. Yixing watched him shift around trying to get comfortable. 

“Are you cold? Would you like my coat?” The boy jumped when Yixing spoke, and after a second of scrutiny, he nodded. 

Yixing shrugged it off, and placed it on his lap. 

“Can I sit here?” He asked softly this time, gesturing to where he was seated, and Yixing nodded, closing out of his messaging app, and opening Netflix. 

“Would you like to watch something?” He asked, as the boy curled into Yixing’s side again. He shook his head, and closed his eyes. “Can I just sleep for a bit?” 

Yixing leaned back, and let him get more comfortable. “Of course, are you comfortable?” 

The boy sighed, “it’s better. You are a good person, very soft.” 

Yixing snorted softly. “You barely know me. I could be awful.” 

The boy opened his eyes and poked Yixing’s stomach. “But you  _ are  _ good. You don’t want me, and even if you are the worst person imaginable, you have soft edges, and soft eyes.” 

Yixing didn’t know what to say to that. His side was warm, and it was nice to have another person to hold. The boy was breathing softly, and Yixing didn’t know what to do with all the trust that had suddenly been placed on him. Only seven minutes had passed since Zhīfáng Da left to make his phone calls. 

Yixing sat there silently for twenty three minutes after the boy had fallen asleep, too caught up in his thoughts about this current job, and a few upcoming ones. 

When the boy startled awake, Yixing’s arm came down instinctually to pull him closer. He panted roughly for a few moments before he relaxed back into Yixing’s hold. “Fuck.” was all he said. His frame shook a bit. 

“Eloquent.” Yixing replied, snorting. 

The boy barked out a laugh, and then twisted himself around so that he was seated in Yixing’s lap. “What’s your name, Mister Assassin?” He was clearly trying to redirect attention. 

“Assassin?” Yixing asked, tilting his head.

“The men talk,” The boy shrugged, “They don’t think I’m smart enough to understand them.” 

Yixing nodded, “You aren’t chinese.” 

“What tipped you off? I’m originally from Korea.” He smirked. “Anyways, name. You can’t just be Mister Assassin for another hour.”

“My name’s Yixing.” Yixing whispered into his ear. “It’s a very secret name.” 

The boy nodded. “Mine’s a secret too. They call me Yǎo here, but that’s not my name.” 

“Bite?” Yixing asked, confused.

“First week they bought me, some prick tried to shove his dick down my throat, and my older brother told me that if I was in trouble and someone was trying to hurt me, that I should just bite down as hard as I could.”

Yixing’s laugh was startled. 

“I managed to tear most of the soft tissue, and then the urethra tore. The guy had to go get surgery, and now he can’t ever get a boner again.”

“Impressive.” Yixing responded. “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

The boy nodded, and then leaned in close like Yixing had done a few moments earlier to tell the boy his name. “My name’s Baekhyun.” 

Yixing smiled. “Nice to meet you Baekhyun.” 

“Likewise, Yixing.”

 

Two months later, Yixing couldn’t stop thinking about Baekhyun. He had taken several jobs, and he could barely concentrate. When the Da Clan called him again, he gladly accepted the job they offered. It was a simple elimination. The Da clan had a great majority of the Police in their pocket, but a newbie police chief had escaped their net. Zhīfáng had thought it completely necessary to have him eliminated.

Yixing didn’t care about the politics behind it, he just knew that Police Chief Park would not be going home to his husband tomorrow. 

The day of the job came quickly, and Yixing was laser focused. 

As Yixing sat in his perch in an empty office in the office building neighboring the police station, he hurriedly hoped that he would be able to see Baekhyun again at tonight’s briefing. 

Then, his target stepped out of the building, his cellphone was up to his ear, and a large grin on his face.

_ Park Chanyeol _ , moved to china three months ago, was a prominent police chief back in Korea and had easily risen through the ranks in the station. He lived with his husband Park Kyungsoo in a nicer apartment block. His hair was very red, and that meant that the little laser dot that Yixing tracked was hidden slightly. Yixing adjusted his rifle, and prepared to fire. 

Suddenly, Park looked up at his perch, and made eye contact with Yixing. 

Big eyes like Baekhyun, and they grabbed his attention immediately. 

Park dove out of the way, and Yixing’s shot missed. 

Yixing cursed heavily.  _ How had he known? _

Something was not right, Yixing was jittery, when did he get distracted like this? All he could see was Baekhyun curled into his side, fast asleep. 

His phone rang. 

Yixing jumped and turned back towards the window, where he could see that Park was no longer in sight. 

_ Damn it it’s going to be a chase. Stupid idiot getting sloppy _ . He berated himself as he jumped up, and declined the call before looking to see who was calling. He flung his rifle into his bag, and drew his pistol. He needed to get Park eliminated, that was his job, that was his job, that was-

Yixing stumbled, and leapt up, his knee burning. He had to keep moving though the office complex. Down to the street, and if Park was still in reach he needed to end this, but if not, he had to get the fuck out of there. 

He managed a glance out the window, and saw that the station was swarming now with blue and black coated officers and a variety of other people.

_ Damn it damn it damn it _ . He chanted in his head as he changed directions towards his motorcycle parked in an alley. 

Somewhere behind him someone shouted and a megaphone screeched to life. 

_ “Tián Yáng! Stop! We have you surrounded!”  _

Yixing swore and plastered himself to the alley wall as bullets patterned through the air. 

_ Someone had set him up. The police knew, Park must have known, Dà has more fucking rats than I thought. This had to be a fucking setup. God Damn it.  _

Yixing’s motorcycle roared to life, and he peeled out away from the alley, and onto the roads. He knew how to lose a police tail, and he wove through traffic easily. His heart still raced though, and the sirens behind him didn’t get any fainter. 

The motorcycle, and the police cars battled for another ten minutes, weaving in and out of traffic. Yixing had to get off of the road. His knee was tingling with pain, and he definitely couldn’t evade for much longer.

He swerved behind a large truck and ducked into a back alley, to wait. He covered his motorcycle with a dirty tarp, and swung himself up onto the fire escape. 

Climbing silently, he worked his way up a few floors until he found an open window. He carefully climbed in, and crept into the dark apartment. 

He could hear someone showering in the bedroom. The floor creaked under his boots, and he stilled. His poorly packed rifle bag was heavy on his shoulder, and it made the seconds he waited feel like an eternity. 

“Minseokie? Is that you?” A voice called out, and Yixing decided that he had to leave. He walked as quickly and as quietly towards the door. 

“Minseokie?” The voice called again, the shower turning off. Yixing reached the door, and carefully slid the chain lock open and the deadbolt out. 

Footsteps in the hallway. “Minseok? Hyung?” 

The door creaked as it opened, and Yixing hurriedly slipped out into the hallway. The door closed heavily behind him and a frightened shout was cut off. 

Yixing hurried through the halls, fishing a hat and a face mask out of his rifle bag, and flipping his coat inside out to the lighter more colorful reversible inside. 

He nodded to one of the security guards as he stepped out onto the street, nearly bumping into a small man going into the building. 

Yixing pulled his phone out, and saw that he had missed calls from The Dragon and his contact in the Police a couple districts over. 

As he hailed a cab, he heard one of the security guards call out to the man entering the building that Yixing had nearly hit. “Kim Minseok! How was work?” 

Yixing set his mouth into a hard straight line as a cab pulled up. 

“Where to, mister?” The cabbie was young looking, and Yixing decided to tip him extra. 

“I need to get to ninth street, you know the tattoo place?” 

The cabbie nodded and then they were off. 

“I’m sorry dude, but it might be slower going, there were a TON of police cars here just a couple moments ago, I think they were chasing someone.” The cabbie said, his nametag read Kim Jongin, and Yixing shrugged. 

“Fine with me as long as I get where I need to go.” 

 

The minutes ticked by, a few spent in tense lines as Police Cars trawled past, but Yixing knew that he had nothing to really be afraid of, no one had gotten a solid look at his face, and he had been quick enough to hide his bike and loop around a bit. He turned his coat back towards the black side, and took off the face mask, and his hat, storing them properly. No cameras to hide from where he was going. 

When the cab finally arrived at the Tattoo parlour, Yixing tipped the cabbie well, and watched as he sped off. 

Yixing let the adrenaline settle down before he started to plan his dramatic entrance to the lair of Dà. 

_ Anger _ .  _ A whole lot of it. _ Was what he decided on, and then he let himself get angry. 

He opened the door to the tattoo parlour, and the bored looking attendant fixed him with an unimpressed stare. 

“We’re closed man, sorry.” 

Yixing scoffed, and wrenched his rifle out of his bag, and held it loosely in his hands. 

“I don’t have an appointment, but I do need to speak with the Fat Man.” He said, his voice was cold and hard. 

The attendant scrambled back, and Yixing just marched forward. He knew the storage closet door led to a set of stairs, and that led to the ugly lounges, offices, and rooms upstairs. 

The door opened with just one kick, and Yixing marched up. 

“DAAA!~” He shouted, as he let the men in front of him scramble back, making a path. “I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOUUU~” His voice was loud, but sing songy, and from the horror on the men’s faces, he looked terrifying. 

He paused at one of the men. “I need to know where the boss is, can you point me in the right direction?” 

The man’s hand shook as he pointed, and Yixing patted his cheek. 

Dà’s door kicked open easily as well, revealing a large poker table, with several men seated around it. Yixing’s stomach flipped a bit as he saw Baekhyun’s fluffy brown hair between one of the men’s legs. 

“Wh-  _ Yáng?!”  _ Dà exclaimed, his hand of cards going flying. 

“Yes, me!” Yixing said, letting the cold anger cover his face. “You, my  _ friend _ ,” He sneered, “have explaining to do.” 

Zhīfáng Dà paled, as Yixing leveled the rifle in his face. The click of guns around the room told Yixing that the other men had drawn their weapons. 

“Wh-what do you mean, explaining?” Dà gulped. In the corner of Yixing’s eye, he saw Baekhyun tuck himself behind a thick looking chair. 

“Park knew I was coming, the police knew I was coming.” Yixing snarled, his angry mask doing most of the work for him. 

Dà paled even more, “What?! They knew you were planning, they- they knew?!” He sounded just as surprised as Yixing had been. 

“Yes, and now my name’s back on their radar. All,” Yixing poked Dà’s chest with the rifle. “Thanks. To. You.” 

Dà flinched, and met Yixing’s eyes. “It wasn’t my doing, It wasn’t, I-I swear!”

Yixing made a great show of staring Dà down. Yixing knew it must have been a rat, but he was determined to get everything he could out of this situation. 

“How- How can I make it up to you?” Dà stuttered, hands shaking as they reached for his pocketbook. 

Yixing took a step back, and looked at Dà calculatingly. 

“I-I can give you your full price, plus, uh, plus extra!” Dà tried, already adding zeros onto the check he was writing. 

Yixing didn’t budge and Dà gulped again. Baekhyun peaked his head up over the chair, and suddenly Dà’s eyes landed on him. 

“And Yǎo!” 

One of the men grabbed Baekhyun by the hair and dragged him out from behind the chair. 

Yixing stared hard. The lip ring in Baekhyun’s lip glittered with drool and something he didn’t want to think about. He turned his eyes back to Dà. 

 

Two hours later, he was hailing another cab outside, with Baekhyun wrapped up in his coat, bare legs shivering. The lip ring still glinted, and Baekhyun tried to press more of himself into Yixing’s side and embrace. 

“I’m sorry I don’t have anything else for you to wear.” He murmured as a cab pulled up alongside them. 

Baekhyun just shivered and let Yixing pull him into the cab. 

Surprisingly, it was the same kid who had driven Yixing earlier. 

“Oh hey! I drove you earlier!” The kid exclaimed and then his eyes landed on Baekhyun, his eyes narrowed slightly, but he watched as Yixing pet Baekhyun’s hair, and relaxed a bit. Then his eyes caught onto the glint of Baekhyun’s lip ring.  

“Oh sweet lip ring man, you get that done here?” 

Baekhyun nodded, still tucked into Yixing’s side. 

“Sweet. I’ve tried to get a couple piercings done here, since it’s actually kinda close to my house, but they’re always full, never have any slots. Kinda sucks, but what can you do!” 

Yixing snorted, the kid was cheerful. 

“The reason they don’t have slots is because it’s a front, kid.” Yixing told him bluntly. “You should stay far away from this place.” 

The boy hummed for a second. “Makes sense honestly. Thanks for the tip off.” 

The rest of the drive was quiet. Baekhyun admired the city out the window, but Yixing could tell that he was tired and probably hurting from something that Yixing couldn’t see. 

He tipped the cabbie heavily again, and adjusted the rifle bag. He took Baekhyun’s hand, and led him inside. 

The bellhop at the counter nodded to him, and went back to his crossword. He didn’t acknowledge Baekhyun who was still only wearing his boxers and Yixing’s leather jacket.

The elevator ride was quick and in seconds, Yixing was carefully taking off his shoes and dropping his bag off on the coffee table. Baekhyun stayed close to the door. 

“Baekhyun.” Yixing said, and Baekhyun’s head shot up. “Let me get you some clothes, and then you can shower. If you want to leave on your own way after that, then you are free to.” 

Baekhyun fidgeted on his bare feet, and then shook his head. “Is, is it alright if I stay here with you?” 

Yixing looked at him with surprise. “You- you want to stay with me?” 

Baekhyun looked at his feet, and fiddled with the sleeve of Yixing’s Jacket. “You,” He cleared his throat. “You have good eyes, you’ve kept me safe. I feel- I feel safe with you.”

Yixing swallowed hard, and nodded stupidly. “Yeah, that’s okay with me.” 

Baekhyun smiled, and then winced. 

“Oh, I’ll show you to the shower, here, follow me.” 

Yixing situated Baekhyun in the bathroom, taught him how to use the shower, and then he exited the bathroom and closed the door. 

He could feel his pulse in his ears, but it wasn’t bad, it was thumping happily. 

His cat chirped at him and he slowly walked to his closet. He pulled out sweatpants, a pair of boxers and his softest hoodie. It felt surreal, like, he could walk back to the bathroom and it would be dark and empty, and Baekhyun, who had plagued his nights for months would stlll be back above the tattoo parlour. 

But the shower was running when Yixing came back. 

“Baekhyun, your clothes are out here.” He called, and listened for a moment. No one answered. “Baekhyun? Are you okay?” 

Faintly, he could hear Baekhyun crying. 

“Baekhyun?” He called again, already picking the lock, “Baekhyun, I’m gonna come in okay?” 

The door swung open, but no steam billowed out like Yixing expected. The room was very cold, and Baekhyun was on the floor of the shower, hugging his knees, his lips turning blue.

Yixing approached him slowly, and turned the shower off, the cold water making him shiver. Carefully, he covered Baekhyun with a towel, and helped him to stand up. Baekhyun still sobbed, but they were silent now. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Yixing murmured over and over again as he dried Baekhyun’s hair, and skin. The towel caught on the lip ring twice, making Baekhyun flinch. Yixing decided that it needed to come off immediately. He helped him into the underwear and pants, and then pulled the hoodie over his head. After a moment of consideration, he attempted to stand up to go off in search of his cat and a fuzzy blanket, but the moment he tried to stand, Baekhyun let a panicked noise slip past his lips, and Yixing sat back down. 

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, lets move out of the bathroom.” He whispered, and this time when he stood, he dragged the shivering man up with him. 

Baekhyun’s legs shook, and Yixings arms were already acting before he had swept Baekhyun up into them. 

Baekhyun was very light, and he bounced slightly when Yixing put him on the couch. 

Firmly wrapping the blanket around him, Yixing grabbed his cat, who squeaked indignantly, and deposited her in Baekhyun’s blanketed lap. 

She glared at Yixing for a moment before starting to purr and knead the blanket covering Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looked entirely shocked, and tentatively ran a hand over her long fur. 

“Her name is Anastasia.” Yixing called from the kitchen, where he was digging for his wire cutters, pliers, and tweezers. 

He could hear Baekhyun murmuring his cat’s name as she purred in his arms. 

Finally he had all of the things he needed. He walked quickly back to the small living room. 

Sitting carefully in front of Baekhyun, he reached out and pet the cat absently. 

“Baekhyun, would you like that lip ring to be removed?” He asked, and Baekhyun froze. 

“You can- it can- it can come off?” He asked, his voice timid, he looked at Yixing with huge eyes. 

Yixing swallowed again, hating that his throat was becoming dry. “Yes. Of course it can come off, you aren’t with them anymore. You can do whatever you want.” 

Baekhyun looked at him, eyes sparkling a little with unshed tears. He smiled at Yixing and Yixing smiled back. 

It took exactly 37 minutes for Yixing to remove the ornate lip ring. First he cut the chain off, then he started to carefully remove the pieces of the lip ring. Yixing moved slowly and watched for any flinching, and signs of discomfort, and because he watched so closely, he saw when the last piece was gone, how Baekhyun relaxed. 

“I’ll make some dinner for us.” Yixing announced, standing up. 

Baekhyun watched him go, the bulge in his cheek moving as his tongue probed the spot where the lip ring used to be. 

Baekhyun stood as well, cradling the cat in his arms, the blanket wrapped around him like a cape. 

It was frighteningly domestic, as Baekhyun sat at the breakfast bar and watched Yixing make dinner. Yixing occasionally talking to himself, or adding little comments in as he cooked. 

Baekhyun once asked hoarsely for a carrot, and Yixing provided it readily. 

When Yixing’s neighbors slammed the door into their own apartment, Baekhyun flinched. 

Yixing turned towards him slowly. “I really did mean what I said earlier. You can leave if you don’t feel comfortable here.” 

Baekhyun looked at him and vehemently shook his head, waking up the sleeping cat in his arms with the force of it. 

“I want to stay here. With you. Please don’t make me leave.” 

Yixing nodded, and turned back to the soup. “You can stay as long as you want.”

“Forever even?”

“Of course, forever even.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. It's been a long time since I updated. This chapter fought me a bit, and I still am not completely satisfied with how it turned out. But here we are anyways! I think I included everyone in this chapter except Sehun, (idk how i forgot him)  
> I don't have the energy to put links and stuff, but if you haven't checked it out yet, please go check out Yixing's NAMANANA, and EXO's Tempo, and Kris Wu's Antares, it's quality stuff.   
> K so a little bit of stuffs, Jongdae was in the shower and minseok is his boyfriend, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo are married, and Chanyeol is Baekhyun's older brother that told Baekhyun to bite people if he's in trouble. The chinese names did mean something, but I resolved the comment on my google doc that had the meanings on it. Luhan is the pretty bodyguard that hangs outside the interrogation room at the Dragon's Building. Kris and Suho are married, and Tao is their son.   
> I am honestly considering expanding this universe a little bit more, cuz I have lots of ideas, but idk.   
> (I am /stressed/ right now cuz of school, so this update might be the last one for like a month or something. idk, it's rough. Kinda, I mean, my grades are Bueno, but I have THREE tests coming up (tomorrow to be specific) and I lost so much study time tonight cuz I had to babysit my sisters dog, and i also feel like crap so yeah. fun timezTM)


	4. Lost

yo yo yo my friends! The chapter for Jongin/Baekhyun has been completed, it was just a fucking MONSTER. 

No joke. 

12097 words. 

that's a FUCK ton, so like, I'm gonna give it it's own home, if that's alright with you guys! 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505011

There's the link to the new boy! 

If you want me to put the chapter here as well, then pls let me know. I definitely don't want to be confusing in any way!

Cool beans! I have an insta, @that_is_shocking if you wanna come hang out! 

Love y'all!!!!

~Alex

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! Hi, so I'm Alex welcome to hell, I'll be your tour guide! Anyways, this is my angsty fic, that I looked for for like months thinking "holy shit baekhyun and that lip ring was HELLA hot, there's gotta be some angsty Monster based fics out there based off of that!" but there wasn't and so, in a moment of weakness, this beast was born. I'm gonna level with y'all, this isn't going to be a pretty ride. This first chapter wasn't the tamest, but it wasn't the worst either, so if you like angsty explicit kinda stuff like this (guilty as charged why do you think I'm a tour guide in hell) then buckle up! Also Bad Guys BIGBANG are kind of inspired from Phoenix by @unniebee (this fic changed my life guys it's soooooooo good)  
> HEY! if you like Seventeen, go check out my chat fic "The Fuck? (Or Text Fic)" ! It's my favorite child, (this fic is the child that everyone stays away from because it rips the wings off of insects and stuff) and if you like BTS AND angst!! Go check out Little Island! It's a plane crash AU! (It's my oldest child) And if you like Jeon Jungkook, hella angst, and poor writing, go check out "when I come back home" (or don't it's kind of terrible)  
> ANYWAYS thanks! this has been alex, comin at you live from the fiery pits of damnation! Back to you steve!


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